When Sam Smith first came onto the scene, people were amazed at their angelic voice. But Sam says it’s taken them a long time to realize that they’re not actually a bad singer.
Speaking to The New Yorker Radio Hour, Sam says that when they first began singing, it was very “stressful,” because, they said, “I’ve always been freaked out by my voice, it’s like a freaky thing.”
“I don’t feel the same way that people feel when they hear it. … When I hear myself, I’m very critical,” they explained. “I’m very hard on myself so when I come off stage, I think I’ve done a bad job. And people are like, ‘That was the best you’ve ever sounded.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m so confused!'”
Sam recalled recording themselves for the first time at age 13: They sang “When You Believe” by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. “
“I sang every single part by myself and … I sat down and I heard myself sing and I burst into tears because I though it was the worst thing ever,” they said. “And I was like, ‘In my head, I sound so much better than that.'”
After that, they spent many years having what they call “dysphoria” with their voice and “trying to hear the goodness.”
Sam also said their new album, Hazel Eyes, which was inspired by his fiancé, Christian Cowper, was a “challenge.”
“I was always very scared of falling in love … especially after In the Lonely Hour doing so well and changing my life in so many ways. I was like, ‘I better stay miserable,'” they explained. “But I knew that when it was time and I was truly in love and I could really pull from that place, that I didn’t want to be scared of that.”
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